Perseverance
Series: To The Seven Churches
November 14, 2021 – David Stockton
We're going through the letter to the seven churches, not letters, it's one letter and it's written to seven different churches. They all got the same letter and they all kind of got to read each other's mail; because within this letter, there is a message to each of the seven churches that are in Asia Minor, first century. John the Apostle was kind of an overseer of those things, and Jesus, through John, is delivering a message to them.
We're kind of breaking up this message and using it as a bit of a guide for the whole of Revelation. So we started out the first week talking about to him who… you know and then there's the description of Jesus given to each of the churches.
So I actually asked some people, if there were some kids that were in the service, that they would draw some pictures of this. So I've got some slides, too. They're not as good as the elder’s slides, but there they are. That's my slide right there. So kids in the church drew some of these things. A Revelation one image of Jesus. You see the lamp stands and then the sash there and there's white — all the hair.
You can go the next one. Yeah, I love the cloud hair situation here on this one. So good. Got a good sword. Yes! A whole lot of yes coming out of this right here. So much majesty. It's pretty cool.
Go ahead. And then you got this, this is a little older person. They did a good job. Look at Jesus’ radiance coming off of his face there. It’s just glorious.
And then this one. Jesus’ head’s coming off a little bit. But, you know, it's Revelations. That works.
And I love this one. When I showed this to my wife, she was like, “Oh, it looks like a little bit like a rabbit.” And it's true.
So these are so awesome. So if you saw these pictures up here, whether you're online or in person, you guys won the prizes, you can expect something in the mail. Thank you for doing that.
But yeah, so that was the beginning. We kind of just took that phrase to the one who you know, is in the description of Jesus. Last week, Ryan — which I thought was an awesome message, I’ll kind of actually touch on it again today — but he just took the phrase “to the angel,” and then it was to the angel of each of the churches. Angel of Thyatira, or Sardis, or Smyrna, or whatever. And so we just kind of showed how the angel represents that there's these two realms that the church impacts is a really great message.
And so then today we're just taking the phrase, “I know your deeds.” So in each of the seven churches, Jesus says, “I know your deeds,” and then has a little bit of description. And so we're going to jump into that. So this is actually supposed to be an affirming message like Jesus is coming to saying, “This is what you are doing really well.” He was saying that to the different churches.
So let's jump in and see what he has to say. Revelation two verse two through three to Ephesus, he says:
I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
So that's when Jesus looked at that community. He was saying, “This is beautiful in my eyes. This is something that I take so much joy in in your community,” and a lot of it has to do with perseverance.
Revelation 2:9 Smyrna:
I I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
To Pergamum, verse 13:
I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives.
To Thyatira, verse 19:
I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.
Even though you’re gong through really tough times, you’re actually increasing. You’re seeing increase.
Chapter three, Sardis, verses one and four:
I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.
So not that great.
Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God.
OK, so they have some deeds. They're just not finished. I'm trying. I'm trying to be generous and like, find some good things in here. But some of these are a little bit skinny, you know?
Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy.
Philadelphia, eight and ten:
I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name…. Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will …
And then Laiodicea, verse 19… This one’s not so good. That other one was kind of skinny. This one is just like, Oh, it’s just bones. This is nothing:
Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline.
That’s all Jesus has got for them. “I looked at you. I was looking hard to see what I could affirm. I love you and because I love you, I will rebuke you. That was about the good of Laodicea there, so not a great example for us therein what to affirm.
But anyways, this was Jesus coming and he was affirming. He was trying to draw out the beauty, what he sees and values, what the economy of heaven values, what is true righteousness. So we've been seeking that all year.
And what he says basically boils down to two things. For the most part, when the first one is just so obvious. That what Jesus really was affirming in the church, what Jesus was longing to see in the church, what Jesus valued for his followers was patience, endurance, perseverance. That's what Jesus was wanting to see produce, that's what Jesus was, was really glorying in when he looked at his bride. There, in this representation of it in these seven churches: patient endurance.
I have bad news and good news. We'll get to the good news at the end, but the bad news is first. To follow Christ, it is going to take immense, intense patient endurance. It is going to take great perseverance. It is going to cost you. It is going to feel a lot like carrying a cross, or being crucified on that cross at times — if you want to continue to follow Christ.
Anybody else that's telling you otherwise is just selling something. There is no doubt about it. Jesus made it clear, the New Testament makes it clear, and here Revelation is basically saying the exact same thing in super-poetic, wild form.
But to follow Christ is to sign up for perseverance and patient endurance. You see it there in the message to the churches:
"Endure hardships for my name and have not grown weary.”
"You did not renounce your faith in me even though people were dying.”
“I know your perseverance and that you're doing more than you did at first.”
“You have a few people who have not soiled their clothes like everybody else has.”
“You have kept my word and not denied my name.”
“You've kept my command to endure patiently.”
This is the resounding message of Jesus to these churches, that what Jesus really wants to see is them endure patiently. Now this is rough because enduring patiently means that you're going to go through some really, really challenging things, hard things.
And we know from the Book of James Chapter one that we should rejoice when we go through various kinds of tribulation. Now, James did not read the Book of Revelation, I get that. It wasn't there, you know, for him to read at that point. So maybe he would change his mind and be like, “Except for all that stuff going down in Revelation. All the other various kinds of tribulation you should rejoice in.”
No, he's talking about all of it. He would have included it. We're supposed to, as Christians, rejoice when we go through various kinds of tribulation, because the testing of our faith produces — what? Anyone? Shout it out! Come on. It's church, people. Perseverance! Perseverance. Yes. It produces perseverance. Who wants perseverance? Nobody! Right?
Like, we're supposed to rejoice because, if we go through hell, we're going to get joy, right? Peace, love, happiness. We're going to get persoeverance. What kind of promise is that?
If I was to tell my kid, “Hey, I want you to clean your room and afterwards I'm going to give you a whole bunch of perseverance.” That room would never get clean. Nobody wants perseverance. You know how you get perseverance?
You know how a football coach, builds perseverance into their football players? They get them out there in the summer in Phoenix and they do two-a-days of conditioning until they puke. And it's horrible. It's miserable. But the coach is trying to build something into them that will not matter in practice. It won't do them any good when they're winning. It won't do them good in the first quarter, second quarter, won't do them good in the third quarter. But in the fourth quarter, they will have something that no one else has.
When it really, really matters in your marriage — not for the good times or when you’re first married — but when all of a sudden your marriage is about over. When your wife serves you papers. Or when your love is growing cold. That's when you're going to want something called perseverance.
When the temptation is so much, that you can hardly stand against it anymore. But you know if you give in, you're going to lose everything, that’s the time where you're going to really want perseverance.
And all of us know people in our lives — if we're not the ones — that right now really, really need perseverance. And so it is a great gift. Now for us again, we think of the gifts of the Spirit, right? The fruits of the Spirit, Galatians Chapter six, the fruits of the Spirit are what? Love, joy, peace. Mm hmm. Right. There's a whole bunch more after that.
But we're like, “The fruits of the Spirit, love, joy, peace. Yeah, what's up? I nailed it.” Now, you know, there's like six more. And the very next one, and the reason we stop after peace is because the next one, we don't want to say it. We don't want to hear it. Doesn’t sound good. “The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience.” And they even throw a “self-control” at the end. Well, “The fruits of the Spirit are patience and self-control” is just as true a phrase as “The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy and peace.” But we're not interested in those.
But those are so vital for our Christian faith. Those virtues are so important, especially in the tough times. And that is what the Spirit wants to produce in our lives, wants to give to us. That's what's supposed to be coming out of the trees of our lives, that kind of fruit. Patience, self-control. And Revelations, again, just gives us a wild, poetic, crazy picture of how that all plays out. Perseverance is what we need.
Dan Riccio who’s a part of the church, he’s an elder and he's awesome. He teaches me so much. But he said this:
As a summary, most of the good the churches are commended for is endurance. They do long obedience in the same direction for a long time. They endure persecution from adversaries outside, as well as false teachers on the inside.
And this is what's challenging is we don't just have people outside that are trying to trip us up and throw us off, that are trying to come against us. We've got people on the inside, as well, within the church, that sometimes can drive us absolutely insane. Or from our own families — and the truth is, even from our own hearts, we receive condemnation and things that are against the ways of God. And so we need patient endurance, we need perseverance, we need to be able to stand in those days.
Revelation Chapter 14 sums this up pretty well for us — actually 13 and 14. Revelation 6 through 19 is basically like tribulation. You've got you got seal judgments. (Not like seals like in the animal, but like seals open). And then you've got trumpet judgments and then you've got these bold judgments. It’s basically hell breaking loose on the earth. Intense.
But Revelation 13 and 14 is kind of this culmination, it’s this climactic moment where the devil as a dragon joins forces with a beast that comes out of the sea and this antichrist. Basically, they form this unholy trinity to kind of counterfeit what God is, and also to deceive many people. And they start to demand worship and all these type of things. And and it's this full power in the world is going their way, and they introduce this mark of the beast, that basically is just kind of, you know, "If you really are with us, you'll receive this.”
And again, it's not something that's going to be scary, It’s something that's going to make a lot of sense. The devil always comes as an angel of light.
And so this moment comes and when this is all happening, when the climax of evil is all at its greatest and about to be unleashed on the world. It even says in there “And they were given power over the saints for a season.” I hate that verse so much. But in that moment, there's these three refrains that John writes in as an apocalyptic writer into this moment.
And Revelation 13:10 says this:
…This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on behalf of the saints.
Revelation 14:12.
This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.
Right in the midst of all of the chaos, there's this refrain. This right now calls for patient endurance. And as Jesus came and visited the church, he was looking and he was trying to find a righteousness. He was trying to find something that he deemed so beautiful. He was trying to find, do they have endurance and perseverance? And he found it in some money. He found it lacking in others.
And my prayer is that we will be people who say, “OK, Jesus, I'm going to pray that prayer that people told me not to pray. I'm going to pray for patience. I'm going to pray for perseverance. I'm going to do what it takes in the good times to build that into my life so that when the times aren't good, I'll be able to stand with you.”
It's a very important part of the message of Revelation.
The second thing that we need to really notice here is, I call it prudent resistance. So here in these passages:
You can't tolerate wicked people, you're resisting those.
You live where Satan’s synagogue is. You’re resisting that.
You live where Satan has his throne. You're resisting the power of Satan in that regard.
Antipas was put to death where Satan lives.
And so there's this combination of resistance — you're resisting the deception, you're resisting all that the enemy is trying to sway people into — but you also have this prudence, this discernment and wisdom as you go into resistance. And this is a little tricky because I feel like sometimes Christians are just like anti-everything, looking for a devil everywhere. And it's like, OK, that's a little weird.
But if you can add prudence to that, then I think we're in the right spot. Because not everything is the devil. Not everything is evil. Actually, God made this world and the people around you are made in the image of God. And so we need prudence to try and discern what is evil and what is right.
And it has been tricky lately. Again, because the devil doesn't come looking evil. He comes looking like an angel of light. The devil doesn't speak his words of deceit as some kind of really dumb or stupid thing. It actually seems very sensible and and maybe even loving or kind. And it becomes very, very tricky.
And so it's important for us to have discernment. We need to resist wickedness. We need to resist deception. We need to resist the devil's authority. We need to resist even to the point of death.
You know, when Jesus was tempted, the devil came and said, “I will give you all the kingdoms of the earth.” And Jesus didn’t say, “Hey, you don't have authority to do that.”
No, Jesus said, “I'm not going to worship you. I'm going to resist this temptation.” Because the devil does — if we know nothing else from Revelation, we know there is a powerful adversary against us in the spirit that shows up in the natural. And we need prudence in our resistance. We need to resist all those things.
They understand the devil is trying to bring about failure of nerve, failure of heart, falling away. We talked about that two weeks ago, that all of the challenge of the last couple of years have led us to this place where many of us are on the brink of some sort of failure. We've been resisting as best we can, but we're out of energy. We're out of of reserves. We're out of adrenalin. And we're just kind of in this place where we're like, “I don't know.” And it's gotten really thin.
And Jesus came to Peter, remember? He said “Satan desires to sift you like wheat.” I hate that Bible verse, too. And it's true. We have an adversary that is trying to bring you to the edge of ruin and collapse. He wants to see you stolen and killed and destroyed. And if you're not paying attention, and if you're not strengthening yourself in the Lord, your resistance will wear out, and you'll see yourself fall away.
The devil's always throwing fiery darts, as Ephesians tells us. And these fiery darts are deceptive ideas that play to our disordered desires that are normalized in our sinful society. This is a phrase — I mentioned it a few weeks ago. It's so important. I want our church to know this phrase: Deceptive ideas that played a disordered desires that are normalized in a sinful society.
This is the challenge that we have. And we've got to learn to resist deceptive ideas. And some of the deceptive ideas that the devil throws at us through culture or even into our own minds, thoughts that come. Some of them aren't hard to resist. Certain temptations that hit us are like, “Um, that's not hard.”
But those certain deceptive ideas hit somebody else, and it might really land with one of their disordered desires. And sometimes I'll be hit with something and I'll be like, “Uh-oh.” Those other five or six, they're just kind of balanced. Bam, bam, bam, no problem. But then that one? I got to watch that one. Because that's playing to a disordered desire within me.
And our culture is telling me all desires are good, any resistance of your desires is oppression and you're a victim. I'm like, “Eh, society, no, thanks. Not really looking to you for my righteousness.”
But then our society around us is normalizing so many deceptive ideas, so many sinful realities that it's become really, really tricky. And we need prudent resistance, need to figure out how to dissect all these things.
And the best way to do that is we have the word of God. We have a guide that is more trustworthy than our desires. It's more trustworthy than our reasonable capabilities. It's way more trustworthy than our democracy, popularity, majority rules. More discerning and wiser than the Supreme Court — whatever it might be.
This book is been there, done that. It's seen societies like us come and go. And yet it's remained the same and true. And it's trustworthy. It's inspired by God. It's stood the test of time. And this will be a great filter for us as these ideas come and challenge us. We need to resist the disruptive ideas, resist the disordered desires, and discern how we can best resist society.
So whether it's critical theory, personhood, theory, secular humanistic globalism, or nationalism, some woke progressivism, or any other manmade ideology, we need discernment so that we can resist well.
There are endless varieties of idolatry and immorality that require resistance. We're going to talk a little bit about this — what I just read – more next week as Jesus comes to the churches and he says, “I have this against you.” So this one's a little more affirming the good, but then it's like calling out the things that they're not doing very well.
But this whole desire thing is so important in our society today. Desires are not reliable. They're not the Spirit of God. And we have good desires and we have bad desires, but we're all called to resistance.
I tell you this story. I'll probably get some emails, which is cool. Email I'm so into emails right now with some of the stuff, like, literally email me anything. I'm fine with it because we need to discuss this stuff. It's important. And I did a whole congregational meeting one time to to like, “Let's discuss all these big things.” And then there wasn't tons of people that came. So I was like, “All right, we're just back to emails.”
But anyway, I was sitting down with lunch with a guy a few years ago, and he's not in our church or anything. Just so you're like, “Who is it?”
But I was asking him and you know, I didn't him know well and I was trying to get to know him. And it's funny with with guys — it might be true with the girls, but I don't really meet with them lot. But I was meeting with this guy and I was trying to get into his heart a little bit. And I asked him about his girlfriend. I was like, “Do you have a girlfriend?” Because it's funny. I've worked with guys a lot, and if you can talk to them about their girlfriend, basically their heart is like open and you're like, Oh, I'm in there now, messing.
But but I asked him about his girlfriend and he was like, “No, I don't have a girlfriend.” And he said it kind of weird like that. And I was like. That was weird, and somehow, I don't know if it was the Spirit or just, you know, times are weird these days, I was like, "You got a boyfriend?” And I was kind of joking, but kind of like, Eh, I think you might be saying something.
And he was like, “Uh,” and you could tell you're so nervous in the moment for two reasons. Because technically, he doesn't have a boyfriend because he told me he just broke up with a boy. And I was like, OK, so then we just had this conversation. I was like, “Man, that must have been difficult.”
He was kind of unpacking how hard it's been and all these things, and we were just kind of walking through it and talking to him. And it's so interesting because we got to this place where he was just really like, “What do you think? What are you saying?” And basically I just told him I was like, “Well, my opinion on all of that stuff is that we all have something to resist. You know, welcome to the resistance. We all have these disordered desires that, you know, pull us into things that are outside what the Bible would counsel us. And we have all these things that, you know, we want.” I said, “I've got them too, man. I've got things that I'm tempted in or I'm tempted towards and and I've got to resist those too. That resistance is actually a huge part of following Christ.”
And we were able to kind of connect on some of those things, but it was just really interesting to navigate that. And it's true, you guys. We all have things we have to resist. We all have things that we've got to fight against and stand against, even that come from within our own souls. And we need great discernment.
So to cap that with Revelation Chapter 13, verse 18. Again, in that same moment where there was this call for patient endurance, Revelation 13:18 says this:
This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.
So again, the mark of the beast. You can't go through Revelation without talking about the mark of the Beast. Everybody'd be so disappointed. So here's my little take on the mark of the Beast. This was a time where everything was getting intense and all of this, and there was a call for wisdom and insight in regards to these things.
And so for today in our age, I don't think the vaccine is the mark of the beast, just in case anybody is wondering. And some people are laughing, and some people are super upset right now. I'm cool with that. Whatever. No problem. I don't think it is. And just hear me out, please. I think the vaccine has been helpful for a lot of people. And I mean, I'm grateful for it.
However, does the vaccine create avenues for other type of things that evil people can do things with? Uh-huh, y es, I absolutely do think that, as a society goes, we continue to have things show up that really do create avenues and pathways that make you think, Huh? This isn't so far fetched anymore! Some of what it's talking about — about not being able to buy and sell if you don't have a mark. Totally.
But I also feel like, in some ways, the mark of the Beast has always been here, just like John says in his letters to the church and Ephesus. He talks about how the spirit of Antichrist is already among us, and he was living in first century Israel.
And so I believe a lot of that stuff is already at play. I do think there will be a culmination where it becomes much more pervasive and clear as to how these things are actually influencing the world. But I know, when I think of like big government, Big Pharma, you know, Big Tech, you know, all of these, I don't think these guys are all, you know, gaining all this intense power over society and they have Kingdom of Heaven motives. I don't really think that's what they're doing with all the information and data they're gaining on us. I don't think Amazon is like: Hmm, how do I form them more into the image of Christ with all these things that Alexa is telling me about them? And I don't think Apple is out there being like, You know what we really need is we need people to be formed into the image of Christ and so, Siri, let's do this together.
And I think the government, I mean, you think about the government like the 1960s, they were wanting to wiretap and bug every household. They were power-hungry in that regard. They dreamed of the day people would be putting things in their homes that would listen to every word they say. You do know that, right? Alexa is listening to every single word you say. And Siri’s listening. I mean, I know you can shut them off. I don't know how to shut Alexa off. I've whispered near Alexa before. How embarrassing is that? How embarrassing is that?
It's creepy. They have more data on us than any government ever dreamed of having on us. And I don't think that their goal is to really try and figure out how to form us into the image of Christ. And there's great, great powers at work in our world today, no doubt about it. So, I'm also like even though the vaccines I don't think it's the mark of the Beast, I do think we need to be people that are prudent resisters.
That's one of the things I actually love about the church is, anytime someone has power and is like telling the Church what to do, the Church is like, “No, no.” And all the crazy people come to the front and they're like, “No, man, we ain't doing nothing! This is persecution!” You know, “Let's fight ‘em all!”
And it's like, in some ways, I stand back and I'm like, “Yeah, yeah.”
It's really hard for people to pull things over on the Church because that’s what God is building in us is prudence and resistance. I think that's one of the American ideals that I love. I'm so glad our veterans fought for. Is this freedom that we can we can be built on these ideals of a biblical worldview, so that when we're oppressed and when people start to come, we're like, “Wait a second, that doesn't seem right. You can't be taxing us if we're not even having representation. Like, we’re looking for things that are wrong and all. We're critical resisters. And I think there's something good about that, something beautiful about that.
But it requires prudence. Don't be just the crazy, telling everybody they're a devil and everything's a devil. That's not helpful, either, because you're talking trash about the image of God in people. We can't be doing that. So anyway, Mark of the Beast. Super clear, now. Everybody knows exactly what it is.
So thelast thing here, I don't want us to miss this. It's a it's a heavy thing to know that that's what Revelation is trying to produce in us; and that true righteousness looks a lot like patient endurance and prudent resistance.
But the good news of Revelation and Ryan actually brought this out in his message last week I thought it was so good — is in Revelation we see that we have a powerful, powerful enemy. No doubt about it. Super powerful adversary of your soul, of your marriage, of your family, of your kids, of your church, of your city, of your nation. There is an adversary planted and trying to ruin. No doubt about it.
But if if that's all we see from Revelation, we have completely missed the point. Because more clear in Revelation is that we have a God who is way more powerful. Somebody should say ‘amen’ to that. Like, just be with me here. We have a God that is way more powerful and he is for humanity. He is for us. His pleasure, his glory is human flourishing. That is what he created in the beginning. We screwed it up. And his ultimate destination is back to the garden, back to human flourishing. That is the will of God. And so we can take great hope in that. And what stands between us and that is this adversary. And let me tell you, just a little bit about this adversary. Revelation 12:7.
Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough…
Who? The devil! Whatever battle you are facing, if you hang on to Jesus, you will find that the devil is not strong enough. Stay close to Jesus.
Revelation 19:
Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army.
That’s Jesus, by the way.
But the beast was captured…
…and ultimately he was thrown alive into the lake of burning sulfur. So the devil musters all of his troops and comes to fight against the one who is returning. And Jesus comes down and is like, “Huh.” And he's captured. He picks him up and just chucks him.
Now, Loki and the Hulk, Loki and the Hulk, Loki and the Hulk, Loki and the Hulk. The whole movie was set up that there was this battle between Loki and the Hulk; and Loki comes in and he's like this demigod or something. And the Hulk’s there. The Hulk’s not so bright, but he's strong. And Loki comes up and there was going to be this epic battle, like Star Wars’ end scene battle. But then they surprised you because the Hulk took him by the legs and just started like beating him on things. Just started whipping him like a ragdoll. It was awesome.
That's what Revelation is trying to teach us. There isn't a battle. There isn't a contest. Check this out. Revelation chapter 20:
And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven…
It wasn't God versus Satan. An angel came down having the key to the Abyss and he’s holding a great chain. And he just ties up the dragon and throws him. Every time you see them dealing with the devil, they're throwing him.
It's the word evilatha. It's so funny. It’s literally like they're just playing catch with the devil. They're like, “Ha! Throw him over there. Go get him.” “Chuck them over there.” “Get him over.” “Throw him over there.”
There is no power in comparison with our God. “No weapon formed against you shall prosper” if you can stay in Christ Jesus. No weapon formed against your family will prosper if you can stay in Christ Jesus. No weapon formed against your marriage will ultimately prosper if you stay in Christ Jesus.
God knows how to take things that are broken and make something beautiful out of them. Not even death can stop the will of the Lord. So, know this:
Take heart, family of God. Strengthen yourself in the Lord. We have very good news. The sovereignty of God is absolute. The will of God cannot be thwarted. The plans of God are for your good. The promise of God is he is always with you, and the presence of God will give you whatever you need in the day of opposition. Our job is to stay close to and focused on Jesus while we endure with patience and resist with prudence.
And the imagery I want to lead us with is just kind of go back to a couple of weeks ago where I saw this picture of the people of God walking out into the sea and out to sea there was this just super-intense storm, a storm like never, never seen before. And it was causing massive waves and tons of wind. And the people of God walked out and some were to their knees, some were waist deep and some were just like their head was the only thing sticking out. And they were literally, just barely staying up, but they were standing there resolute because they were standing against the storm. Because they did not want to see it come.
And as they stood there, I saw that some of the people lost heart. Some of the people were overwhelmed and they just walked away and gave up. But what Jesus was wanting me to focus on was there were some that stayed standing in that storm being tossed to and fro, but standing against; They had prudent resistance, they were patiently enduring. And Jesus was saying, “These people are beautiful to me.”
This calls for patient endurance on behalf of the Saints. We are in a time right now: 2017, 2018, 2019, we didn't need the same type of prudent resistance and patient endurance. 2020, 2021 we do.
God is calling us to stand in that gap, and when he sees you standing there — and some of you have been doing it for a long time, and please know that Jesus looks at you and says you are so beautiful in his eyes. There isn't a day, there isn't a pain that you haven't swallowed that he hasn't felt and he doesn't have a reward for. Keep standing and keep fighting. Don't fall away. Don't fall away.
Lord Jesus, we thank you that you didn't fall away. You went all the way to that cross for us and for our salvation, and for our good. And Jesus, we ask that you would come close to us and you’d fill us with your strength. Teach us to be dependent on you.
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